An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the Ondo State Government to pay N25 million in damages to Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega following the disappearance of her infant son from a state-owned juvenile home.
Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, who delivered the judgment, held that the evidence presented by the defendants failed to justify the circumstances surrounding the child’s disappearance, describing their case as “unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable.”
The suit was instituted by Adegboyega against the Ondo State Government and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development after her son, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, went missing while under the care of a government-run juvenile facility in Akure.
According to court records, the claimant had been undergoing treatment for depression and schizophrenia at the Ondo State Neuropsychiatric Hospital when officials of the Ministry of Women Affairs took custody of her three-month-old child to enable her receive proper medical attention.
After completing her treatment and being discharged from the hospital about a month later, Adegboyega visited the juvenile home to reunite with her son. However, officials reportedly informed her that the child had died and that his body had been deposited at a mortuary.
The claimant subsequently visited the State Specialist Hospital to verify the information but was allegedly informed that no child’s body had been deposited at the mortuary by the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Dissatisfied with the explanation and unable to establish the whereabouts of her child, Adegboyega, through her counsel, Oju Kekemeke, approached the court seeking justice over the incident.
In its judgment, the court held that the disappearance of the child from the juvenile home was a result of negligence on the part of the defendants, who had a duty of care while the child remained in their custody.
Justice Osadebay declared that the claimant had suffered severe emotional and psychological distress as a consequence of the incident.
“This court hereby declares that the claimant has suffered excruciating pain, anguish, personal loss and psychological trauma as a result of the disappearance of Omoniyi Oluwaseun from the Ondo State Juvenile Home under the supervision of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs,” the judgment stated.
The court awarded N10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages and an additional N15 million as general damages for the pain, anguish, psychological trauma and persistent emotional distress suffered by the claimant.
The court also awarded N200,000 as the cost of the suit.
The judgment represents a significant legal victory for the claimant and underscores the responsibility of public institutions to ensure the safety and welfare of individuals placed under their care, particularly vulnerable children entrusted to government facilities.